Scripture uses the metaphor of the last stages of pregnancy to illustrate how things will be when we are close to the Lord’s return. This verse is often cited: For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, NIV).

The metaphor matches the prophecies with respect to the pain that precedes childbirth. It also matches the prophecies with respect to the fact that there will be those who through ignorance or willful denial will think everything’s just fine, thank you, right up to the first twinge. Despite the evidence. The rest of us, they might argue, are just doomsdayers, conspiracy theorists, kooks…

Well, consider:

I have written previously about what a woman experiences when labor actually ensues [1] and some insights I gleaned from this stage of pregnancy that might relate to dealing with what may well be ahead prophetically, but for this post I want to touch on what happens immediately before labor starts.

What happens is that the baby “drops” into position (sometimes called “lightening” [2]). The baby flips himself or herself “head down” just before the big event so that he/she is in the correct position for birth.

In this new angle there is not as much room for the movement the baby enjoyed prior. Things get quiet, so to speak. Oh, Mom still feels a tiny poke here and faint bump there, now and then, but nothing like when baby was stretching and kicking in less confining space.

Mom might wonder if everything is really okay, though. She might even call the doctor. But unless there is indeed something wrong, she will be assured that this is normal and she will be encouraged to get her bag packed for the hospital because labor will soon commence.

In short, though for a few days or weeks she may enjoy the relative “calm” because the little athlete within has settled down, she knows it’s time to read up on labor and delivery or review the Lamaze handouts because when the baby drops the end is near. There is still plenty going on; it’s just not as obvious.

There is no denying this.

~~~

So, I have been thinking of how this stage of pregnancy parallels the stage of prophecy we could very well be in right now in this month of July, 2015.

I have been wondering: “Has “the (prophetic) baby dropped?”

More importantly, I have been thinking of the importance of having one’s “spiritual bag” packed, although life still seems peaceful and safe to some. Because the truth is that except for individuals who simply do not ever read or listen to any kind of news or who live in denial, everybody nowadays is uneasy–not only Christian prophecy watchers but also geopolitical trackers and economy experts.

And there is plenty cause.

“The Stock Market Crash is Coming,” one headline screams.

“The Middle-East is Collapsing,” another.

“Are These the End Days?” still another caption, cable news crawler, or website tagline flashes.

“But, wait” counter those in denial or who haven’t been paying attention, “we’ve survived some pretty bad things so far, right? Why should this season be any different?”

In this nation, for example, they may cite that after the destruction of the Twin Towers in September of 2001 we somehow recovered a semblance of normalcy (although, truth be told, we’re trying hard not to think about the consequences of follow-up “security measures” that can now track every move we make). And so, it seems to them, we might be safe again.

Then, they may continue, the economy took a major nose-dive in 2008 yet somehow managed to resume ticking upward so we can still invest, even though, others note, new financial terms like “housing bubble,” “bank bail-in,” and “quantitative easing” do sound ominous…

But are we really back to normal?

Or is this a new normal with prophetic underpinnings?

I think it is the latter.

Even non-Christians are prepping physically, financially, militarily, and mentally for what looks to soon be a convergence of natural and economic events along with the usual blood, guts, and gore ginned up by the dark side of the human race.

Many are coming to realize this season of relative calm and quiet we seem to be in just now may very well be the calm before the storm, or, to my comparison, the calm after the baby drops and before the labor pains begin.

Just when the serious stuff will start is hard to predict, just as it is hard to predict precisely when labor will commence. But we can know when it’s close. Many believe it’s close.

Many believe, in fact, there’s no denying this.

Thus, and to the real point of my post: it’s time to make sure one’s “spiritual bag” is packed.

And the sooner the better.

In the midst of all the bad news, bad guys, and bad days ahead, whenever the prophetic birth pangs commence, there is still time just now to also prepare spiritually. If you have not yet done so.

If you have not, let me urge you today to accept the salvation afforded by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, to ask Him to be your Savior, and to get inside the pages of the Bible to find out more about just Who He is and what He has in store for those who love and obey Him.

May I recommend you start with the Gospel of John for the Good News that will sustain you in the likely worse news to come?

And, oh, in those same pages, despite conditions elsewhere, there is also plenty of hope.

Just like a woman knows that all of the pain and turmoil of labor and delivery will result in the birth of an extraordinary new creation, her baby, the prophetic pains that will commence on the earth—those near and some yet to be–will also result in an extraordinary new creation. See Revelation, chapter 21, for details, but here is a taste:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.…(1-2).

You know. I thought it was time the world heard from someone who has actually given birth–a woman–to add a more personal perspective to the metaphor, lol. But, seriously, it is an apt metaphor, praise God.

The next great event in Bible prophecy is not the Rapture or Tribulation. It is the Second of the Four Signposts - Iran's great invasion of the Middle East. Are you watching? Are you preparing? Are you telling your brothers and sisters, pastors and elders?